In the latest CPL report, July saw Michigan reach 755,802 active licenses in the state.
MCRGO’s report went thus,
Michigan added another 4,700 net CPL holders last month bringing the total to 755,802. This is a new all-time high. After a crazy year of student certifications that was four times higher than usual, there are now indications that demand is returning to typical levels. Let’s hope the price of ammo returns to normal soon too. The full report can be read HERE. [Link to Michigan State Police]
That means that better than 1 in 10 eligible adults in Michigan (estimate the 21+ population at ~7,000,000) are licensed to carry. Another quarter million expired CPL’s bring the total up to about 1,000,000 as those just let their licenses lapse.
The really telling numbers though are the smaller ones.
Pending, 6,239. That is drastically down as the state has worked through their backlog and applications are moving more smoothly. Macomb and Oakland counties still have quite a few in process and Macomb has been.. difficult.. when it comes to moving that paperwork with the priority it deserves under the law but it is moving.
Revoked, 3,635. The total number of revoked licenses is miniscule, license holders are following the rules. Suspended are even lower at 2,809 and withdrawn licenses are at a mere 1,327. I believe withdrawn means that state issued it in error and took the license back after additional legal findings.
Surrendered, 96. Voluntarily surrendered licenses for whatever reason the holder felt they should. Perhaps mental health, perhaps a personal protest or choice of some manner or another, but the telling item is that it is rare. So when a reporter trots out Joe/Jane Doe who is ‘giving up their guns for the greater societal good’ they really had to dig to find that person and spotlight them.
Denied licenses under the Disqualified designate are a mere 21,232 applicants. So when the politicos get on the news stating that their system blocked people who shouldn’t have a gun from getting it or carrying it, take a look at that number and that ratio and wonder just how they are padding their stats. It’s usually initial NICS denials.
But true denials in Michigan, for the life of the program, are only 21,232 people who were not allowed to have a carry license who applied and who were never later updated to a different legal status. I like seeing a robust 2A crowd in my home state.
[Ed: This is such an important subject that we are reposting by permission Bearing Arms’ original article from June 24, minimally edited for DRGO.]
On August 10, 2018 Connie Wray’s daughter Katie took her own life by using a firearm. Katie was a former Marine living with her husband, also a Marine, when she decided to end her life. Wray had expressed on more than one occasion her fears to her husband that Katie had firearms in her home. Wray’s husband was not dismissive of these thoughts, however he would respond that they’re “professionals” when it comes to firearms, and it just comes with the territory. After the loss of Katie, Wray blamed “the gun”.
Wray and her family were consumed by grief. She opened up about the grieving process in a recent online post:
“. . . I played the ‘What If’ Game. What if I had called earlier that day. What if we had kept those lunch plans. What if they didn’t have guns in the home. That’s the one that has kept me up at night. With so much talk of mental health, mass shootings, combined with uptake in suicides, can two groups with very different philosophies find common ground to find solutions?”
In 2009 Michael Sodini’s longtime friend and president of the company they worked for died in a suicide by firearm. Sodini was in the firearm industry and he and the president had just come back from an extensive run traveling all over the United States on business trips. They were together 24-7 for months at a time. When Sodini’s friend took his own life, he and those around him were devastated. Were the signs there? Was there no outlet for his friend to seek other relief? Like Wray, Sodini became a survivor of suicide, and was left with more questions than answers.
In 2018 Sodini founded Walk The Talk America. The organization was born out of a chance meeting Sodini and a business associate had with a stranger they invited to chat with them:
Michael and his National Sales manager invited a stranger to join them at their dinner table. The conversation naturally shifted to gun violence in America. The young woman asked, “What happens when there is a school shooting?” Michael explained that one side blames the gun while the other side blames mental health. Because of this, unfortunately, nothing is ever resolved. The woman then asked, “Well, how do you as an industry work with mental health if you have identified the problem? It would make sense that the two industries work hand and hand.”
A spark went off in Michael’s head. All too often, firearms owners were foregoing mental health services for fear of losing their firearm rights, while many mental health practitioners lacked the training to properly serve members of the 2A Community. In July 2018, Michael founded Walk the Talk America to address the issue head-on.
Jake Wiskerchen, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, National Certified Counselor, and Chief Clinical Officer of Zephyr Wellness, had a good friend from college that managed his mother’s gun store and range in Reno, Nevada. They’d often talk about the relationship between mental health and firearms. In 2019 Wiskerchen’s friend one day recommended that he check out Walk The Talk America. At the time Jake was hosting a show on mental health and invited Michael Sodini to be a guest. The conversation went on for over three hours and a new friendship was formed.
Wiskerchen and Sodini started working closely together. Jake had said to Michael, “We need to bring this information [about mental health and firearms] to clinicians in the form of continuing education.” From there Wiskerchen developed a class for clinicians on firearm cultural competence to fill the void in addressing the two issues on the same stage. They also got involved in different programs like the “Governor’s Challenge” in Nevada, an organization aiming to prevent suicide. Through contacts they were building, Wiskerchen and Sodini found themselves as guests on the Crisis Support Services of Nevada podcast, Talk It Out Tuesday, this last March. The episode started out like this:
“Hello and welcome to Talk It Out Tuesday with Crisis Support Services of Nevada. I am your host, Connie Wray . . . “
I talked to Wiskerchen about how things went from point A to B to C. He told me it was rather organic through the network they made in the world of mental health. We discussed the Talk It Out Tuesday episode and he explained:
“After the show, Connie said to me and Mike, ‘You need to deliver me from this prison I’m in . . . ‘”
What transpired after that conversation was an amazing journey. Wray, having these visceral emotions and resentment for years, blaming the firearm on what had happened with her daughter, asked the Walk The Talk America team to teach her about firearms and take her shooting. Wray chronicled the process from beginning to end in her docuseries, The Next Stage.
Wray introduces the episode with:
“Guns and mental health, just saying these words together spark immediate controversy. I’m a mother who lost a child to suicide by firearm. It was easy for me to blame the gun, knowing little about the gun culture. When I heard about Walk The Talk America, a non-profit, bridging the gap between mental health and gun ownership, my head wanted it to be the solution, my heart was skeptical.”
Later on in the beginning of the segment, Wray did admit “I needed to blame her death on something.”
Wray was noticeably nervous when she was brought to the firing line at a range in the Nevada desert. She was given a crash course on firearm use, grip, and safety. Shaking with nervous energy, she held a .22 caliber pistol in her hands while Wiskerchen and Sodini instructed her. Directing Wray to keep her finger off the trigger during exercises, Wiskerchen gently guided her. She apologized a few times over, and said “Oh s*it” with anxious sighs whenever she inadvertently allowed her finger to creep into trigger guard.
She was ready for live fire and was handed a loaded magazine, Wiskerchen told her “There’s no special sauce to this, just look to where the bullet’s going to go and put it in that way.” Wiskerchen put her through another exercise after loading, showing her how the safety on the firearm functioned, having her attempt to pull the trigger on the pistol while it was engaged. They went live and after a few “holy s*its” Wray cycled through the magazine. Her response?
“Wow . . . I did really good. Did you see that? Okay, that was fun!”
The team spent their time in the desert working Wray through a multitude of different firearms. Wray said that after getting over her initial fear “…they took me through a small arsenal shooting several rounds.” Then came what she called a breakthrough. Under the hot desert sun, tearfully she professed:
“I was just thinking about my daughter, it’s like I’m not so afraid. Like it was not the guns, you know? And I feel bad that I ever thought that. I was just so even more paranoid after she died you know, because I didn’t know anything about guns . . . I didn’t know I was going to get this emotional about it. But I feel like it’s not so scary, I was so scared. I knew it was her mental health but I didn’t put it all together. Cause’ I did used to say to him “we shouldn’t have guns in the house” . . . but it wasn’t about that, it wasn’t ever about the guns.”
Sodini and Wiskerchen were supportive of Wray’s catharsis. Put best, Wiskerchen said to her:
“The best way to fight lack of knowledge is education and experience.”
The work that advocates like Sodini and Wiskerchen do is incredibly important to the firearms community, and population at large. Knowing about Connie Wray’s story and the story of her daughter, we can only hope that with the help of the Walk The Talk America team, Wray was freed from the guilt ridden, self-imposed prison she was in, living as a survivor of suicide by firearm. Wray took a chance, summoning up insurmountable courage, and based off the experience, it seems that a large barrier has been removed, as well as a weight lifted. “Okay, that was fun!” she said, and with that a new healing can begin.
Walk The Talk America has important resources on suicide prevention, and as noted, aims to bridge the chasm between two worlds. Do visit their website: https://walkthetalkamerica.org/. If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts and ideations, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Wray’s story is an important one and you’re urged to watch, as well as share with those you know, her story here.
In this episode we’re joined by LT Marc Santos of the US Navy Action Shooting team, and we discuss many Air Force vs Navy concepts, and then the show goes entirely off the rails and we talk about what’s the best gun to kill the aliens from The Tomorrow War.
The National Rifle League Hunter matches are matches that test you as an individual and all around marksman. Each stage has around four animal targets to engage and the only information you get about those targets is..”your time starts now”. No ranges, no locations, nothing. With that, using your time wisely is crucial. Which also means that having equipment that helps maximize the use of your time is tenfold.
Having shot two different hunter matches using different spotting and ranging equipment I was able to see the difference in each set up.
My first set up included Vortex binoculars attached to a tripod and the Vortex Razor HD 4000 Rangefinder.
My old set up. Using binoculars first and then switching to rangefinders took up quite a bit of time..
The stage plan went along the lines of this..
Stage starts Walk up to ranging post Pull out tripod with binos attached Use binos to find atleast 2-3 targets Pull out rangefinder, range 2-3 targets Write down ranges on wrist coach Go to gun, find targets in gun, engage targets using ranges written down and matching them to dope on card
In that stage execution I went to three different optics. Three different times losing the target. Three times finding the target again.
Stage starts Walk up to ranging post Pull out tripod,bag, and Furys Use Furys to find and range each target Write down ranges on wrist coach Go to gun, find targets and engage
Using the Furys instead of both a binocular and rangefinder separately saved me time and confusion. I was able to find and range the targets simultaneously instead of using two different pieces of equipment.
So why can’t I just use the rangefinder to find targets and range?
It’s drastic to have binoculars when looking for targets. Binos are more steady and have a wider field of view. Using the rangefinder to both find and range targets is just not ideal. Having the Furys be a beautiful piece of bino glass while still allowing me to find ranges without getting off that glass was huge.
Using the Furys to find and range targets in one motion was important for more cramped stages like this.
There are different ways to go about using the Vortex Fury5000 HD’s in a match. The Furys have built in environmental sensing and applied ballistics (if you input your information for link up). Since it does have the ability to give you your data in the same moment as displaying your ranges, you can save a step by reading both the range and data and just jotting down your data on your wrist. This ability would be huge if the environmentals changed drastically from the time you made your data card to the time of the stage. There is also a bit of a delay to the time that your range pops up to the time that the Furys compute and show your data. It’s about three seconds from displaying of the range to displaying of the wind and elevation holds. If you don’t want to wait for that time and trust your data on your data card you can just run with the range that the Furys give you.
The Furys, data card on wrist coach, and tape that is used for hasty writing down of ranges or data.
There is also a scan feature that is very useful when it comes to NRL Hunter matches, and by extension hunting in general. Oftentimes the target is in a treeline or directly in front or behind said treeline. Using the scan feature as you are searching for your target will help distinguish if the range you are receiving is from the treeline or your intended target.
“The Scan feature can be used to range moving targets, or help range smaller targets on uniform backgrounds, and works in both ranging and target modes. Once powered up, press and hold the “Measure” button and scan back and forth, watching for changes in the yardage number as the aiming circle moves across target objects. The illuminated Scan icon display indicates Scan Ranging is activated.”
Overall after using a rangefinding binocular and one that allows me to get all of my information in one shot. Such as the range, data, wind holds, and angle input into data, I won’t go back to two separate pieces of equipment.
Below is a video on a NRL Hunter match and what to expect. At the end of the video some tips were shared about how to make the most of your NRL hunter experience and one was using rangefinding binoculars.. Thank you to Long Range with the Lillys for the awesome overview of the series.
We panic-bought guns. Homicides are now up. Coincidence?
The LA Times published four short letters on the topic of ‘Gun Violence.’ While this purports to show a ‘balanced’ position on the 2A, it takes four very cookie cutter perspectives on the issue and sums it up with the conclusion that the title puts forward. We panic bought more guns and thus there are more murders…
The U.S. Supreme Court in its 2008 District of Columbia vs. Heller decision held that the Framers’ “originalist” intent was for the 2nd Amendment to give individuals the right to keep and bear arms — meaning, effectively, that we have ready access to firearms so we can just kill each other whenever we choose to. It’s not like there’s any mention in the 2nd Amendment of a “well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state.”
The closest to a so-called militia was led by a shaman ransacking the U.S. Capitol.
Bruce N. Miller, Playa del Rey
..
To the editor: “Guns fuel deadly surge in L.A.,” a headline in the print edition tells us. Of course. And cars fuel drunk driving, right?
The article further states that 2020 was a “very unusual year for homicides with a small increase in killings in the first half of the year, followed by a dramatic rise in the second.”
Could it perhaps be due to radical changes in attitudes toward police after the “mostly peaceful” demonstrations that started mid-year? Just asking.
Barry DuRon, Oxnard
..
To the editor: Your articles reporting the spike in handgun sales during the pandemic and the homicides over the Fourth of July weekend make me think there might me a connection there.
Is it possible that the more heavily armed the populace becomes, more people will be killed by the firearms they bear? After all, what else are all those guns for?
John Humble, Santa Monica
..
To the editor: After years of reading articles in The Times about gun violence, I decided to conduct a scientific experiment during the lockdown.
I closely watched a handgun for 30 days. I kept waiting for it to shoot me and my family and then go after my neighbors. It didn’t. In fact, it never moved.
As such, I have come to the conclusion that a handgun is an inanimate object and is incapable of killing anyone without the intervention of a person.
Perhaps your focus on homicides should be placed on those who kill, because I am now certain that it is not the fault of the handgun any more than it is the fault of a pencil for misspelling a word, or the fault of a fork for one’s weight gain.
Our national pace for buying guns is up, it is. But it has been up. We haven’t had a decrease in NICS checks per year since 2017 and our crime rates were down and staying down until 2020. There is nothing to explain the three year lag if buying going up equals murders going up. Because correlation doesn’t equal causation.
Now, if we factor in the pandemic and riots? The national shift in attitude towards law enforcement, the rule of law, and legitimacy of authority, all of those factors correlate with an increase in violent criminal activities. Homicides, people getting even with others for perceived wrongs through a slaying, are up but they are up in the demographics we already had a problem with. Those demographics, organized criminals and domestic violent offenders, are prohibited under law already and are not the groups that were panic buying firearms at retail.
The groups doing so where increasingly females and minorities, people who felt vulnerable when law enforcement and government entities repeatedly failed to demonstrate their ability to keep individuals safe from the violent predation. Opportunistic criminality thrived under the lockdowns, we need only look as far as the PPP loan fraud to see the attitude on that.
So unless the premise is that there was a magic number of firearms being bought in a year, but hadn’t been hit in any of the previous years of record sales, and we tripped that magic murder number, I do not understand the causation they are trying to imply. There is no solid backing for the correlation to be pushed to causation. We have no flow of new owners turning directly into new murders who were somehow unable to murder before. We do have repeat criminals escalating their violence during a highly stressful and contentious time.
Even then, our homicide rate is up compared to our historic lows. We haven’t broken the much higher rates of the 1990’s where gun volumes were much lower. We cannot have historic levels of gun ownership year over year but now suddenly have a homicide spike. It has to be more complicated than that, our homicides should never have curbed if that were the case.
I am loving Brandon’s continued journey into making the AK-50 a reality. It is a look inside the true slog that is designing a new firearm.
What is especially fascinating about the whole ordeal is the dedication to keeping the AK-50 as AK like as feasible. I mention this often, but that specific aspect and knowing it will work is a core aspect of the challenge the team is facing.
They’ve shown the firing prototype and cycling prototype working. Huge gains. But using that live fire to stress test so many parts all at once and then determining what isn’t working and why is the part of the process we do not see form most designers.
FN didn’t take us through the SCAR or the Ballista. Barrett didn’t show us the MRAD. But Brandon is showing us the .50 in useable understandable bites that illustrate the process well.
Screencap from Reason.com, Cuomo doing Cuomo things.
A made up term by a governor who cannot keep his large city (cities) crime at reasonable levels through judicious use police and community servies?
Probably.
Andrew Cuomo seems to be seeking to prove the concept. He just signed a law that is like in direct conflict with the PLCA (Protection of the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act). Inviting New York residents to sue gun manufacturers, instead of the Governor I don’t know… governing and encouraging ethical law and order within his territory, seems like a massive buck being passed.
But it does support one of the Gun Controllers’ wet dreams of suppressing the 2A without outright ‘banning’ firearms. Just bankrupt whoever makes them for crimes and sins they didn’t commit.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic last year, New York’s legislature authorized Gov. Andrew Cuomo to issue “any directive” he deemed “necessary to cope with the disaster.” Second Amendment supporters should be thankful that the legislature rescinded that authority a year later, since the Democratic governor yesterday declared that gun violence in New York qualifies as a “disaster emergency.”
Under current law, that executive order, which Cuomo proudly described as “the first-in-the-nation gun violence disaster emergency,” still allows him to “temporarily suspend” laws and regulations “if compliance with such provisions would prevent, hinder, or delay action necessary to cope with the disaster.” Cuomo is using that authority to suspend statutory restrictions on “contracts, leases, licenses, permits or any other written agreements that may be entered into for purposes of mitigating” the emergency he declared. He also is relying on that statute to require that the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services collect data on “shooting incidents, shooting victims and individuals killed by gun violence” from police departments in certain cities and counties every week rather than every month.
Cuomo says “the disaster emergency allows the State to expedite money and resources to communities so they can begin targeting gun violence immediately.” Although Cuomo yesterday signed a bill that aims to facilitate lawsuits against firearm manufacturers and dealers, his order says nothing about unilateral gun control measures. [Emphasis added]
This is why gun violence keeps getting declared a ‘public health crisis’ or other forms of emergency. It opens up funds. It makes money available that is sitting in other piles for other purposes, usually natural disasters and weather related emergencies. This money can then be accessed and spent, usually with very little in the way of spending oversight because it is an emergency and that would get in the way.
It may be subject to audit later… eventually… possibly. But once it is spent it is spent, and the government is pretty atrocious at keeping itself accountable, a fact that they count upon.
REASON continues reasoning,
Maybe that’s because Cuomo no longer has the statutory power to issue “any directive” he thinks is appropriate to deal with an emergency he declares. Or maybe it’s because New York already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Among other things, the state requires a permit to purchase a handgun; mandates background checks for all firearm transfers except those involving immediate family members; bans the open carrying of firearms; prohibits concealed carry for all but a select few residents; bans the manufacture, transportation, or possession of “assault weapons”; prohibits magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds*; and authorizes court orders barring people from possessing firearms when they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.
These laws obviously did not prevent the surge in shootings to which Cuomo is responding. In New York City, police counted more than 1,500 shootings last year, nearly twice as many as in 2019. The New York Times notes that “some 886 people have been shot in 765 incidents this year through July 4.” And although “the violence appeared to ease in June,” it remains “well above 2019 levels.” New York City homicides rose 45 percent in 2020 and climbed further in the first five months of this year. Other New York cities, including Buffalo and Rochester, have seen similar increases in shootings and gun homicides.
And in a classic case of be careful what you put into a law
Undeterred by the manifest failure of New York’s existing gun controls, legislators last month passed a bill that aims to expand the civil liability of firearm suppliers. Under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, gun manufacturers and dealers generally cannot be held liable for crimes committed with their products. That 2005 statute specifies several exceptions, including cases in which a gun supplier “knowingly” violates state or federal law if “the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought.” S.B. 7196, which Cuomo signed into law yesterday, seeks to exploit that exception by authorizing lawsuits against gun suppliers who fail to “utilize reasonable controls and procedures” aimed at preventing unlawful use of the firearms they sell. It defines such a failure as a “public nuisance” and says the state, local governments, or injured private parties can sue violators for damages.
Leave no vague option go unexploited when it comes to crushing New Yorkers’ 2A rights. They get to set the bar of ‘reasonable,’ despite dealers and manufacturers having no meaningful access or control over systems like NICS or how any individual dealer conducts their business. Gun companies possess no more clairvoyance than do government officials (and profess quite a bit less) but their products are still less objectively harmful than vices like alcohol.
So a ‘Disaster Emergency’ of gun violence is basically like ‘Assault Weapon,’ a made up term to frighten people more, over a predicted rise in violent crime in regions that suffered harshly under the lockdowns.
The Mini Scabbard, left, and Speed Scabbard, right, are well made holsters with much to recommend.
Quite a number of modern shooters don’t quite understand the advantages of leather holsters. But then Kydex also has advantages. Wading through the differences isn’t that difficult and I own and deploy each type. If you are looking for a to-go maker with a variety of holsters that may be ordered for a wide range of firearms DeSantis may be at the top of the list. Lets look at some of the designs from DeSantis.
The Speed Scabbard is the holster I think of when I think DeSantis.
An optics ready Speed Scabbard is a recent development.
The Speed Scabbard is an open top design. Thumb breaks and safety straps have no place on a properly designed concealed carry holster. The molding of the holster is security enough. The holster features a pancake design that hugs the body. The holster spreads the weight of the gun out on the belt by use of three double stitched belt loops. There are three loops to adjust the draw angle. Some prefer a more severe draw angle. The Speed Scabbard should be worn behind the hip under a covering garment for best results. The holster features a retention screw to set retention and also to tighten the leather up after years of use. I often use the Speed Scabbard with a SIG P series SAO type pistol. This isn’t a light gun but the Speed Scabbard fills the bill and keep the pistol in place on the belt. The Speed Scabbard is available in an optics ready option. By cutting the holster lower on one side to accommodate the optic and adding a little support on the other side DeSantis has produced a credible choice for optics ready handguns.
The Mini Scabbard features a tunnel loop belt attachment. The Speed Scabbard offers good cant adjustment.
I like Mini Scabbard a lot. Despite its small size support is excellent due to a well designed tunnel loop. Belt attachment is secure. The holster is light and flat. It isn’t a pancake but a scabbard which means that the draw angle is ideal for a rapid presentation. If you deploy a S & W Shield, Springfield Hellcat or Taurus GX4 the Mini Scabbard is ideal.
The author often wears his Streamlight equipped Glock 43X in the modern Slim Tuk holster.
Among the author’s favorite concealed carry rigs is the Slim Tuk.
This is an interesting design that offers the popular tuckable option. I don’t wear mine under a tucked in shirt but use the Slim Tuk as a standard inside the waistband holster. I like the option of adjusting the belt loop. Kydex construction prevents the holster from being damaged by perspiration or solvents. The Slim Tuk is surprisingly comfortable for long periods of wear. The draw is sharp once covering garments are pushed aside. The solution for optics ready carry is simple- DeSantis moved the belt clip to the opposite side, preserving a high ride and good concealment.
The Veiled Partner is an advanced design with plenty of adjustment.
This is a Kydex holster that maximizes the advantages of Kydex. The holster hugs the body as tight as a pancake type leather holster. But no leather holster could offer the wide range of adjustment for rake, cant, and ride. Rake is forward or rear rake as determined whether the muzzle is to the rear or forward, cant is the angle of the draw, and ride is how high the holster rides above or below the belt. The Veiled Partner is also available in an optics ready version.
These holsters offer good utility. They are designed to last and offer good concealed carry options. Take a look at DeSantis when making your next concealed carry gear purchase.
It all started when I rented the extended cut of “The Patriot” last weekend for Independence Day. I’d seen the movie before, but felt that the holiday was a good excuse for a refresher.
As reportedly historically inaccurate as the movie was, one of the things that struck me was the main character’s use of the tomahawk that he kept from his days as a warfighter in the French and Indian War.
Wading into hand-to-hand combat with a tomahawk in one hand and a blade in the other, Mel Gibson’s character demonstrated both the utility and the brutality of the tomahawk as a weapon of war.
As a result of this bit of holiday entertainment I decided to do some reading-up on the use of hatchet-as-weapon.
It turns out that from the Vikings to Native American tribes, war axes of various types have been used in combat for millennia. What were once hand-knapped flint axe heads bound with sinew gradually evolved into the bronze, iron, and now steel versions that we know today.
Colonial troops in the Revolutionary War were reportedly “required” to carry a sword or tomahawk for hand-to-hand fighting (I guess we now call this close-quarters combat?) Remember that the firearms of that era were single shot and could be unreliable depending upon circumstances. So rather than transitioning to a handgun if the battle rifle malfunctioned, in those days they transitioned to sword or tomahawk.
Some modern military units have continued to carry tomahawks – most notably the 75th Ranger Regiment – right up through Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus there has been an ongoing demand and manufacture of these historical weapons. But that doesn’t mean that the designs have remained antiquated. The variety of modern tomahawks offered these days is astonishing.
I guess I never paid attention before at SHOT Show because being my age and gender, this was not a form of weapon that I thought I’d be able to employ effectively. So I frankly ignored them. But I didn’t know what I was missing.
Modern “Tactical” Tomahawks have a wide variety of features to choose from – including spikes, hammer heads, pry bars, glass breakers, fire starters, nail pullers, and gawd knows what else, in addition to the actual hatchet blade. Roger’s Rangers would likely be astonished at what modern materials and design can accomplish.
For me personally, I’d want to avoid the rear spike – I’d probably put my own eye out with the durn thing. But a hammer head would be useful for camping, and I realized that with all my existing gear I do not own a hatchet. A pry bar might be good for if I’m stuck somewhere off the road with my car, too. Remember this piece I wrote?
I neglected to add in the introduction that I have a fascination with the 18th century. There is an historical fort nearby where I have attended workshops and demonstrations. Although I have never been a reenactor per se, I am in the process of attempting to hand-sew myself an historically correct costume for this era and location – just to see if I can.
Additionally, I have a direct ancestor who fought in the French and Indian War, and several others who fought in the Revolution. I guess you’d say I’ve got a bit of a genetic stake in this era of history.
Thus, although I am not likely to ever really “need” one for battle, after this research I am seriously considering acquiring my own tomahawk – or maybe two.
I’m thinking maybe a “tactical” one as a sort of multi-tool for my get-home-bag (the Gerber Downrange looks useful), and maybe then an historical reproduction for display or for my historic costume kit.
So while I am unlikely to ever be required to wade into a crowd of redcoats with bloody intent, maybe a gal like me DOES occasionally need (or at least “want”) a tomahawk. Who knew?
The Toros Copolla T4 is an all business shotgun with good performance.
I have on hand quite a few capable firearms. Some are for specific missions- like squirrel hunting, deer hunting, or upland birds. The defensive long guns include a .308 Scout Rifle, Springfield Saint AR, and a handy double barrel shotgun. Perhaps the most versatile and effective are the self loading shotguns. These firearms offer the greatest wound potential of any shoulder fired weapons. They handle quickly, point straight, and offer excellent hit probability on moving targets. While the shotgun handles mostly by feel there is a certain science to hitting with the shotgun. I also like a shotgun that is accurate with slugs. Slugs are sometimes underrated. Slugs are terrific game getters and more accurate than folks realize. If I could have only one long gun—it just might be the one you are reading about.
The shotgun has good fit and finish and plenty of real estate for mounting optics.
The barrel retaining nut is a modern design that proved easy to manipulate and secure.
An enlarged trigger guard is an improvement over the Benelli.
The Toro Copolla T4 isnt a new design but it is from a new maker. The T 4 is based on the Benelli M4. I told the guys at Benelli they would wish one day they had not farmed all that work out to Turkey— well I will if I get the chance. The T4 is big on the big R and little m. Reliability is good, maintenance is seldom needed. The T4 is a direct copy of the M4, down to the fact that all parts are interchangeable. The piece is well made of good material. The fit is good and the finish, well, it isn’t quite Benelli but the shotgun cost closer to eight hundred than eighteen hundred dollars. The Benelli M4 is the result of a US military contract. The M4 is gas operated. The military demanded gas operation as the system they wanted would include a shotgun with mounted lights and other hardware. The marvelously reliable inertia drive of the previous Benelli shotguns was less reliable when combat lights and heavier accessories were mounted. The ARGO gas system is clean and reliable.
The rubber device on the bolt handle is used to prevent the handle from poking through the packing box- it proved handy so we left it alone.
An enlarged loading port makes loading the Toro Copolla T4 an easy chore.
The shotgun proved capable and reliable with a number of 12 gauge loads.
The T4, like the Benelli, features Ghost Ring sights. These sights makes for very fast target acquisition. They are well suited to fast moving combat. On the other hand if you need pin point accuracy with a slug load these sights allows centering the slug on a man sized target well past 50 yards. These are versatile sights well suited to combat use. The light rail allows attaching a red dot or shotgun scope. The stock and forend are well designed. The shotgun handles quickly and has proven reliable. I also own a Benelli M4. I have no complaints with the M4 but after a fair evaluation beginning in October of last year I find the T4 fully equal to the Benelli. The finish, as I mentioned, isn’t quite up to Benelli standard. On the other hand the trigger is actually a bit lighter with a rapid reset. the trigger guard is elongated to allow gloved hand use. I don’t know if I will need this option but it seems a good idea. The shotgun comes with three choke tubes. Buckshot doesn’t follow the same rules as birdshot and a tighter choke tube doesn’t always result in a tighter pattern. Just the same I like the full choke option. The pistol grip makes for good control. When moving the shotgun may be carried with the pistol grip alone. A good sling is mandatory for all around use.
This isn’t a sporting gun but it would be as good as most for hunting boar, deer sized game at modest range, and turkey with the proper choke. Well perhaps it is a sporting gun! If you own only one shotgun you could do worse that the Toro Copolla T4. The bolt handle is well designed for rapid use. The loading port in the receiver is enlarged to allow rapid loading and the ejection port offers the option of quickly stuffing a shell in the chamber if you run empty. The shotgun may be topped off a shell at a time if needed.
I have tested the T4 extensively. With all types of slugs and buckshot and most full power sporting loads the shotgun is completely reliable. A word on buckshot- don’t use anything else for home defense. Birdshot will not penetrate a single six inch wide water jug. Birdshot is intended to throw a cloud of shot and bring down a small fowl you could easily carry in one hand. Buckshot is designed to stop an animal about the size of a man and about as hard to put down. Buckshot selection isn’t as critical as you may think despite reams of paper written on the subject. #1, #4, #00 or #000 are all fine for home defense. At seven yards the shotgun will form a tight cluster and do a tremendous amount of damage. As an example a 27 pellet #4 buckshot load may make a rather large pattern at 10 yards or so but there is a tight cluster of shot in the center. The outliers may snag an adversary as he runs or ducks behind cover. On the other hand if there is a reasonable chance the shotgun will be used at a longer distance one of the more advanced #00 buckshot loads is needed. Hornady Black , Federal Flite Wad or Remington Managed Recoil keep a tight pattern and may be counted on to keep most of the buckshot in the chest area at 20 yards. As for slugs- this is a huge chunk of lead in the air. For stopping a mountain lion, bear, or feral dog at longer range a slug is a good option. I have a very few Fiocchi Aero slugs left. In this shortage I sacrificed a few to confirm the T4’s accuracy potential. With both reduced recoil and full power slugs the Toro Copolla T4 will put three slugs into four incheBS s at 50 yards. That is plenty of accuracy for personal defense or animal defense. The Toros Copolla T4 is more than a reasonable alternative to the Benelli and may be the better choice in some regards.
Maybe it’s the cocaine or our natural tendency to breed weirdos. I’m not sure why, but I know Florida is a magnet for non-native invasive species. People love weird pets, especially reptiles, and they love them until they reach a certain point in the size department. They then cast them aside into the wild, and it turns Florida’s thriving ecosystem allows them to thrive. These weird animals are wreaking havoc on our ecosystem and, as such, have a permanent open season on private lands.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission manages hunting and fishing seasons, and for invasive species, they encourage a year-round hunting season on private lands. Cruelty laws apply, and as long as you humanely take these animals, there are no bag limits or seasons. Here are the five most invasive and weird animals you can hunt in Florida.
5. – Wild Hog
Wild hogs are likely thought of as too common to qualify as weird animals, but that’s because we aren’t killing enough of them. Feral Hogs are destroying ecosystems across the southern United States and migrating roughly a mile north per year. While it might be a southern problem right now, it’s soon to be a country-wide issue. Blame Hernando Desoto, who brought wild hogs here in 1539.
Since then, they’ve dominated as 67 Florida counties. These beasts average roughly 150 pounds, but when fed right, they can get much heavier.
They can be dangerous and have killed people in the past. Wild hogs need proactive eradication, and in my experience, it can take months to force them out of an area.
Pairs Best With – Semi-automatic rifle of intermediate caliber. Perfect for taking multiple follow shots on groups of animals. I like a AR 15 for the role, but a Tavor, SCAR, or whatever works just as well.
4. – Tegu
Ever see a giant lizard in a pet store and think, man, I can’t wait to let him loose in my neighborhood? Well, someone did, and now the Argentine black and white tegus roam southern Florida. These lizards can grow up to five feet in length, have poor dispositions, and no natural predators. They stick to the ground and swim well to boot.
Tegus are the first of many reptiles on our weird animal’s list, and as you’d imagine, reptiles do well in Florida’s climate.
They stick to fence lines and forest clearings and are often easy to spot since they didn’t evolve to blend in with Florida’s landscape. Luckily, they only have a foothold, and hunting could eradicate the population.
Pairs Best With – Rimfire rifle, preferably semi-automatic. A good 22LR to the head is lights out for any Tegu.
3. – Nutria
Giant swamp rats should be enough to convince you that these weird animals need hunting. Seriously, rats are bad enough, but upping their size to 20 pounds is terrifying. These semi-aquatic rats came to Florida to be made into coats but somewhere along the line, that went wrong.
As such, Florida is now home to these massive herbivorous rats. They damage boat docks and piers due to their burrowing and upset the natural order of roadbeds, stream banks, dams, and dikes.
They also damage crops and carry several biological diseases. Plus, they are giant rats, and I already deal with enough with Florida’s native species.
Pairs Best With – Shotgun loaded with steel shot. These bastards are quick, and a load of Number 3 steel shot forgives a multitude of accuracy sins. Since they live in aquatic environments, steel won’t pollute the water and kills birds like lead.
2. – Iguanas
When I was a kid, I always wanted an iguana as a pet. A lizard that could grow to five feet in length and weigh close to 20 pounds sounded great to my undeveloped frontal cortex. My parents wisely said no, but a lot of other parents did not. As the rapidly breeding iguana has conquered such large swaths of South Florida. The Keys, in particular, are covered in iguanas that range from tiny lizards to full-blown Godzillas.
These creatures live everywhere and chew their way through native plants, birds, nests, and more.
Courtesy the AP
These giant lizards breed quickly and seem almost impossible to get rid of. Most South Florida residents are not hunters, and get squeamish about such things makes the situation much worse.
Pairs Best With – A PCP Airgun. A hefty 22 or 25 caliber airgun will efficiently dispatch an iguana. With iguanas populating densely popular urban environments, an airgun is often the safest and most polite choice.
1. – Pythons
How bad is the python problem in Florida? Well, bad enough that you knew Pythons would be the number 1 weird animals on this list before you opened the article. This problem has become quite the news story, and hunting pythons has become a yearly event. FWC hosts a yearly Python roundup that allows hunters to kill pythons en-masse.
Pythons are wreaking havoc in the Everglades.
They have no natural predators and have been observed eating small deer, baby alligators, rabbits, and everything these scaled killing machines can find.
Pairs Best With – A machete and a shotgun with steel shot. Giant snakes are best killed with a headshot, but when that’s not possible, a shotgun can deal enough traumatic damage to kill them. Again use steel shot to preserve the environment. A machete also makes it easy to decapitate wild pythons.
The Weird Animals Of Florida
Although these animals are invasive and can be hunted quite freely, always ensure you can legally hunt anything in your area. Some public lands may prohibit firearms usage entirely, and that includes hunting invasive animals. Just because they are not protected doesn’t mean you get to approach the hunt half-cocked.
With your due diligence done, you can have a good time hunting these weird animals. They offer a unique experience beyond your typical deer, coyote, or squirrel hunt. They require new strategies, tactics, and techniques. Plus, you’re doing the state of Florida a favor in removing invasive species.
The 1990s were a rather tame time for arms design. The 1970s and 80s saw tons of weird guns with some real innovations. The 1990s cooled off and were a relatively peaceful time. The Gulf War lasted a month and some change, the raging crime of the 80s was settling down, and there wasn’t a lot of demand for new and exciting guns.
However one of the few designs came from a NATO request for a replacement for 9mm firearms. This request birthed the modern personal defense weapon, or PDW, as we know it.
The PDW In Living Color
NATO wanted something more efficient and effective than the 9mm cartridge. They intended to create a firearm that outperformed a pistol but would be shorter and more compact than a rifle. This weapon could arm truck drivers, artillery crew members, crew-served weapons operators, and beyond. This idea wasn’t new, and it’d been addressed as far back as World War II with the M1 Carbine.
The first modern PDW came from NATO superstar FN. The FN P90 came to be a select-fire, bullpup, PDW chambered in the newly created 5.7x28mm cartridge. Alongside the P90, FN developed the Five-Seven handgun. The 5.7x28mm cartridge completed its objective of outperforming the 9mm by leaps and bounds.
PDWs are roughly SMG-sized firearms but depart from the SMG category by utilizing unique cartridges that fit somewhere between rifle and pistol cartridges. Notable examples of these round are the 5.7×28, 4.6x30mm, 5.8x21mm DAP, 5.56x30mm, and even the 7.5 FK. Of those three, only the 5.7×28, the 4.6x30mm, and 5.8x21mm have been fielded by police and military forces.
A PDW provides a longer effective range, barrier, and soft armor penetration than a traditional submachine gun. However, they fall well below a rifle’s effective range and ability to penetrate. When you look at rifles and carbines from the 1990s, the concept of a PDW makes sense. Many NATO countries were still armed with 7.62 battle rifles or, if you’re American, the big ole’ M16A2.
In 2021 the world has changed, which leads me to ask, ‘does the PDW matter anymore?’ Has it been regulated to SMG and shotgun status as extremely niche for military and police armaments?
Success of the PDW
NATO wanted the PDW for non-infantry support troops, and in that role, the concept never took off. In fact, in most countries, support troops have been forced to use the last generation of combat rifles as small arms evolve. Oddly enough, the previous generation tends to be less compact and more in the realm of rifles than carbines.
The PDW did have a few wins. The Secret Service adopted the P90, as did the troops who explored Star Gates from Cheyenne Mountain. Several police forces in the United States also adopted the P90 for SWAT units.
HK produced their PDW, the MP7, that utilized the 4.6x30mm cartridge. The MP7 saw adoption by SEAL Team 6, aka DEVGRU, in limited roles, numerous international police forces, and tons of Special Operations units in both NATO and non-NATO countries. China developed the QCW-05 in 5.8x21mm for their totally legit, not oppressive police forces.
Wins are wins, but when you look at the military and police forces of the world, that’s a minimal number. Times have changed, and the modern carbine and its adoption have blown the PDW out of the water.
Everything PDWs Can Do, Rifles Can Do Better
Personal Defense Weapons are sweet, in concept, but ballistically a short carbine blows them out of the water. The 5.56 round is exceptionally prevalent in police and military forces and more accessible than some Teutonic proprietary cartridges. While PDWs kill soft armor, they suck against hard armor.
Hard armor has become much more prevalent, and rifles do much better against hard armor while still destroying soft armor. With steel plates being so cheap and available, hard armor threats are more numerous than soft armor ones due to economic accessibility. Sure, Abrasion Resistant steel is poor armor by comparison, but it is working armor and before ceramics came down in cost it sold exceptionally well.
Short carbines like the Mk18, the HK416D, and SIG’s Low Visibility Assault Weapon variant of the MCX provide an ultra-short platform that outperforms PDWs to an extreme degree. They offer a short and light weapon with better penetration, range, and ballistic advantages.
It’s gotten to the point where extremely short rifles are labeling themselves as PDWs. They fire a traditional intermediate cartridge but have shrunken themselves so much, so they are dang near SMG-sized. The FN SCAR PDW, the Magpul PDR, and the Barrett REC7 PDW use traditional rifle rounds and label themselves PDWs.
If They Disappeared Today….
Not much would change. The PDW has long become a very niche weapon. It’s a submachine gun for people who hate submachine guns. The super-short design is excellent for super close quarters, but the rifle provides a ballistically better option even then. While a PDW serves better than a standard 9mm SMG, it still has some of the same faults.
I think super light and short carbines will continue to put other genres of firearms out of business. Short rifles have become more reliable, easier to suppress, and offer significant advantages over a PDW. While the PDW might keep kicking in its niche role, I think it’s safe to say it’s obsolescent, not quite obsolete, but on its way.
Caleb and I discuss the wonderful speech from the AG and President, copied in full yesterday with Brandon’s Gun Meme review video.
I won’t rehash the speech here but needless to say from Biden’s misuse of the AG’s title, calling him General (a military rank) and not Mr. (the actual title, fully Mr. Attorney General or Madam Attorney General) to the tried and true ‘Deer wearing Kevlar…’ trope about not needing assault weapons…
That, by the way, completely discounts that every hunting rifle can defeat a standard Kevlar vest. Every single one. Not a deer round out there coming out of a rifle bore that you want to rely on a level II vest to stop. IIIA’s maybe under certain circumstance. And only one company I know of has a III in a soft shell currently…
It’s… just… bad. I grew up in this industry thinking gun controllers were sneaky, now they’re just kind of out of things to try and say that sound remotely accurate so they’re trying to stick their crap to the wall.
Such is life. Happy Sunday. Happy Independence Day!
The President gave a speech last week, and man oh man was it full of boomerspeak. It was like logging into a forum from 2008 and listening to some guy who’s only ever shot deer with a 30-30 talk about AR15s.
